Virtually every baseball and softball player relies on hitting practice with pitching provided by persons of varied ability or by one of various types of pitching machines. Although some are fortunate to have the pitching of an experienced, capable person, by and large consistent and competitive pitching can only be obtained at the professional level or by the use of pitching machines.
There have been primarily two types of pitching machines developed to pitch baseballs and softballs. First is the catapult type pitching machine. This machine uses an arm that violently rotates about one end to fling a ball at the target just like a catapult. While effective for simulating fastball type pitches these machines cannot impart the spin on the ball to simulate breaking pitches. Also, these machines tend to be bulky which prevents them from being portable, and forces them to be used at a fixed location.
The other type of commonly used pitching machine is the flywheel type pitching machine. These machines use one, two, or three spimning flywheels to propel the ball toward the batter. By pinning one flywheel at a greater speed than the other, spin can be imparted on the ball causing it to `break`. This allows the machine to simulate curveballs, sliders, or other breaking pitches. Flywheel type machines are also fairly portable allowing them to be set up wherever required. The flywheel pitching machines do have drawbacks, however. The flywheels themselves lose momentum when `pitching` a ball and can take some time to recover the lost energy. Further, the flywheels themselves must be repositioned to simulate different types of breaking pitches and different handed pitchers. This takes time requiring a trial and error process for aiming, and also tells the batter what type of pitch to expect before the ball is actually pitched.
What is needed is a pitching machine that can pitch at a high velocity, yet still impart enough spin to the ball to simulate breaking pitches. Additionally, the pitching machine should not give visual clues to the batter as to which type of pitch to expect and should not take an inordinate amount of time to prepare for the next pitch.